During a recent appearance at Cannes Lions, where she was honored with the LionHeart Award, the 72-year-old former talk show host spoke out about the previously undisclosed incident, which she said occurred after Houston relapsed amid her longtime battle with drug addiction<\/a>.<\/p>\n “This was an amazing thing that happened. I had such trust from the ‘Oprah Show’ audience that Whitney did, I think, what was her last show with us. She had gone back on drugs,” Winfrey said in a clip shared on social media by Variety<\/a>.<\/p>\n ROBERT DE NIRO WAS \u2018SMITTEN\u2019 WITH WHITNEY HOUSTON, BUT TOLD TO \u2018STOP MAKING A FOOL\u2019 OF HIMSELF: AUTHOR<\/a><\/p>\n Oprah Winfrey revealed that Whitney Houston fell off the stage during a taping of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” (Paras Griffin\/Getty Images; Lester Cohen\/WireImage)<\/p>\n “The first interview I did with her when we’d gone behind stage and I asked about her intentions, she was clean,” the TV icon continued. “But the day she came to my show to perform in front of the audience, she was not, and she fell off of the stage.”<\/p>\n Winfrey said she took immediate steps to prevent the incident from becoming public, fearing that exposure of Houston’s fall would further damage the singer at a vulnerable point in her life.<\/p>\n “I knew that if that story got out \u2026 she would be destroyed by that,” Winfrey said. “And so even though the audience was there, and the audience had cameras, I begged them not to put those pictures out because it would ruin her life, and they did not.”<\/p>\n “That would not happen today, I can tell you that,” she added.<\/p>\n Houston appeared on the show while mounting her comeback in 2009. (Kevin Winter\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Houston had appeared on the show as part of her highly publicized 2009 comeback following years out of the spotlight and intense public scrutiny over her personal life.<\/p>\n At the time, Houston was promoting “I Look to You,” her first studio album in seven years following 2002’s “Just Whitney.” During her appearance, she performed one of the songs from the album, “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength.” Winfrey said the fall occurred during that performance.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER<\/a><\/p>\n During her interview with Winfrey, Houston discussed her marriage to Bobby Brown<\/a>, fame and the challenges of living in the public eye.<\/p>\n Whitney Houston is joined by her husband, singer Bobby Brown, at ceremonies in East Orange, N.J., where the Franklin School was renamed the Whitney E. Houston Academy of Creative and Performing Arts. (Richard Corkery\/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)<\/p>\n PARIS JACKSON MARKS 6 YEARS SOBER, ADMITS RECOVERY DIDN\u2019T MAKE LIFE EASIER AFTER HEROIN AND ALCOHOL ADDICTION<\/a><\/p>\n The six-time Grammy Award<\/a> winner also opened up about her addiction struggles, admitting to heavy drug use during parts of her career and speaking about her efforts to rebuild her life.<\/p>\n LIKE WHAT YOU\u2019RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n The highly anticipated two-part Oprah special marked Houston’s first major television interview in years.<\/p>\n Whitney Houston arrives at the For the Love of R&B Grammy Party at Tru Hollywood in Hollywood, Calif., on Feb. 9, 2012. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n Looking back on her conversation with Houston, Winfrey told the audience at Cannes Lions that it was “one of the most powerful interviews.”<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/oprah-winfrey-whitney-houston.png\")
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